Judge closes ACS:Law illegal downloader case

Mulling over whether to compensate those who got letters

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A judge has officially closed the illegal filesharing case started by ACS:Law, and is now looking into whether to grant compensation to those who were sent letters accusing them of downloading illegal content.

ACS:Law began sending letters out to potential illegal filesharers in May 2009 and faced much criticism in the press for doing so.

This was because the letters were seen to bully suspects into paying compensation to the firm to avoid the risk of going to court.

Since then, the letter-sending has ended up as an embarrassment for the firm. So much so that it announced it had ceased trading as of February this year.

Ralli the troops

Judge Briss who was residing over the case has decided to end proceedings, which has delighted Guy Tritton, a barrister from Ralli Solicitorsworking on behalf of those accused by ACS:Law.

He said: "There's simply no point in keeping these proceedings artificially alive any more."

The hearing where the case was officially closed was not attended by Andrew Crossley, former owner of ACS:Law.

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